Chapter 4 #2
“And you?” Captain Mitchell’s question was directed at Alina.
“No, I’m just passing through the shop,” she told him. No need for everyone to know exactly where she lived.
“Do any of you have information to share about the disappearances?” the captain asked.
“No more than what’s widely known, I’d imagine,” Mrs. Pincer said.
“Over the last few months, a suspicious number of people have left town without telling anyone they’re leaving.
And other towns in the area have reported the same.
Usually young people, always people known to have a bit of a knack for magic craft.
It took a while to connect the pieces, because it was often people who were just passing through, or didn’t have family here.
” She clucked her tongue. “I worry about these two, and their young man. None of them have family about to look out for them. And I’m sure we all try to look out for each other, but some are still more vulnerable than others. ”
“I see.” The captain studied them both thoughtfully. “Have either of you had any threatening encounters, or suspected you were being watched or followed?”
Alina thought of the man who’d observed her outside the inn, then at the markets when she’d assisted Lilah. It wasn’t enough to call being watched, though. She hadn’t seen him since. She shook her head along with Lilah.
“We try to be very cautious, though,” Lilah offered, her tone apologetic to be speaking up in front of such exalted people. “Particularly when groups of refinery workers are passing through, like they are now.”
“Yes, we all know the trouble began when that refinement project started up in the desert,” Mrs. Pincer said, frowning disapprovingly as if the guard captain had been responsible for the idea.
“Strangers are traipsing through here constantly, rough men, some of them, putting everyone on edge. It makes life harder for us all because those with magic craft can’t use it for fear of putting a target on themselves. ”
The captain took the older woman’s scolding calmly. He turned again to Lilah and Alina.
“Do either of you have any skill in magic?”
Alina lowered her gaze, but the eyes of Mrs. Pincer and Lilah had already flown to her. As had Prince Xavier’s.
So he remembered some things about her, clearly.
“Alina does,” Mrs. Pincer answered for her. “She’s very handy with the craft, actually. Used to work here in my shop, and it was a tremendous help.”
“Is that true, miss?” the guard asked Alina politely.
She looked up, smiling faintly. “It’s true that I often use magic craft, at least when there are no strangers in town. But I’m not formally trained.”
She could feel Prince Xavier’s eyes on her face, but she didn’t look over to confirm it.
“We may wish to speak further with you,” the guard said. “Please don’t travel out of town in the next few days.”
“She shouldn’t travel alone anyway, wouldn’t you say, Captain?” Lilah interjected boldly. Alina gave her a look, which she ignored. “She traveled to another town by herself yesterday, but shouldn’t everyone with magic ability be avoiding that?”
Alina’s look was closer to a glower now, but Lilah wasn’t repentant. “If you’re allowed to worry about us, we’re allowed to worry about you,” she murmured.
“She definitely shouldn’t be doing that,” the prince cut in unexpectedly.
He wasn’t looking at Alina now, which made it easier for her to study his expression.
It didn’t tell her much. But his tone was nothing like the mischievous banter she’d heard so much of the night before. “Neither of you should.”
“I agree,” the captain said.
“I’ll stay around town, sir, and I’m happy to answer any further questions,” Alina told the captain.
He nodded acknowledgment, then directed his next questions to Mrs. Pincer.
When the older woman showed an inclination to expand on all the local speculation, Alina decided she could reasonably excuse herself.
She mumbled something about other commitments, relieved when the captain gave a vague nod.
Alina edged around the rest of the group, the cheerful jangle of the bell seeming to mock her as she slipped out the door of the shop.
The fresh air was an instant balm, and for a moment she just stood on the porch, her eyes closed as she breathed it in.
She let the comfortable sensation of all the Dust in the air press around her, a cushioning presence.
That had been uncomfortable and strange.
But it could certainly have been worse. And the most awkward part was surely behind her now.
She moved off the porch, lifting her skirts out of the dust as she hurried away, no clear destination in mind.
It would be so easy to use the momentum of her walk to buoy up her skirts just off the ground, but this was no time for unnecessary magic.
She’d just turned down another street when she heard the distant jangle of the store’s bell.
Were they leaving already? She needn’t have fled—Mrs. Pincer must have been more restrained than she’d expected.
It was a good thing she was out of sight.
The thought had barely comforted her when swift footsteps gave her a moment’s warning of pursuit. She swirled quickly, her mind freezing as Prince Xavier appeared around the corner. For a moment they stood in the dusty laneway, staring at each other.
“Alina.”
His voice was so much deeper and throatier than she remembered it, and it made her name sound unfamiliar. And appealing.
Words escaped her, so she bobbed a curtsy, glad that the extravagant green dress at least had sufficient skirts for a decent one.
“Don’t do that,” Prince Xavier said, exasperated. It made him sound much more like the Xavier she used to know, and she found herself looking him properly in the eye for the first time.
“Don’t do what, Your Highness?”
“The curtsying and the titles and all of that,” Xavier said dismissively. “You’re hiding behind it, and it’s irritating.”
A retort rose to Alina’s lips, but she kept it in. It was a long time since she’d had the kind of closeness to the prince’s world that would allow her to be flippant with royalty. She was saved thinking of a more suitable response because at that moment, the prince’s cloak began to wriggle.
Alina stared in bewilderment as a lump in the fabric shifted strangely, and a creature emerged.
It clambered onto the prince’s arm, using it as a ramp to climb all the way up to his shoulder.
The sight of it giving its feline head a little shake was bizarre in light of the avian body scrambling upward in an uncoordinated way.
“Ouch. Zuzu, the talons,” Xavier said reproachfully.
“Is that…an anzu?” Alina demanded, intrigued.
“Yes, this is Zuzu. I finally named her last night.”
A number of questions sought to escape Alina, but she reminded herself this wasn’t her Xavier, and she needed to take care not to be impertinent.
“She’s very…small,” she said instead.
“She’ll grow.” Xavier was endearingly defensive of his pet.
“She’s only a baby. They grow unnaturally fast, actually.
Any other creature would be much smaller and more helpless at this age.
She imprinted on me by accident, so I’m stuck with her now.
Until she’s fully grown, that is. Which shouldn’t be too long, I’m told. ”
For a moment Alina just stared, struggling to match the somewhat ridiculous image before her with either the teenage Xavier she’d known or the prince of rumor. Then something occurred to her, and she laughed.
“She’s your companion. The lady.”
Xavier stilled, his brow creasing as he studied her face.
Realizing her misstep, Alina quickly lowered her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t put the pieces together. The motion was a mistake—she hadn’t tied her hair back, and its dark waves fell in front of her face, just as she’d made them do the night before.
Prince Xavier sucked in a sharp breath, the sound filling Alina with apprehension.
“You’re the girl from the tavern last night.” He didn’t say it as a question. “The one who avoided looking at anyone all evening, then got harassed by that gutter trash.”
Alina blinked, taken aback by the strength of the words contrasted against his calm voice.
“I…yes,” she said lamely. “It was kind of you to…intervene.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he contradicted. “It was basic courtesy at best, but forget about that. What are you doing here, Alina? Why is the daughter of one of Siqual’s wealthiest merchants working in a tavern in the middle of nowhere?”
Alina forced herself to look up into his eyes, although the expression there made it hard to keep her thoughts steady.
Prince Xavier looked upset, his whole form tight with a restless energy that hadn’t been there the night before.
His manner was a comical contrast with the ungainly creature wobbling on his shoulder, and the humor of it helped Alina gather herself.